New Year’s Eve is really a special time. Christmas has just been spent with your family, and now it is time to kick off the New Year with all your family and all your friends. Hopefully, I can present some new ideas for parties and things to do.
First of all, find a place to do it. A recreation room or pasture is a great place to do it. We have both of these, and the recreational room is a great place to go in and warm up, while we can all go out to the pasture and shoot off some fireworks.
Next, make sure that there is something for everyone to do. Consider building a bonfire. Get some ingredients to make s’mores and marshmallows. Using the bonfire, at least some of the people can gather around and talk until the New Year. Also, consider laying out some parlor games. Darts, air hockey, and of course, ping pong will create a little friendly competitive spirit. Another great idea is to set out some board games. This will keep a lot of the children and even some of the adults busy. Next, towards the stroke of midnight, you can have everyone outside to ring in the New Year with some fireworks. If you cannot set off fireworks, you could also bring everyone inside for the annual ball drop. We actually generally do both, we just set off fireworks just after midnight. Of course, what New Year would be complete without a few couples sharing kisses? Your party may just bring some people together for the New Year.
For guests, don’t worry so much about who can and cannot be invited because of who likes or dislikes whom. Just invite friends. If people don’t get along, that’s their problem. New Year’s Eve is for all your friends and family. Also, consider inviting people from all your groups. For example, invite people from your church and from your book club. Invite people that don’t know each other. This will be a great way for people to ring in the New Year with brand new friends.
For food, make sure that people can volunteer to bring favorite dishes, drinks, or desserts. If not, you will be incredibly overwhelmed. A good old-fashioned grill-out is always a lot of fun. Hamburgers, hot dogs, or even chicken is a lot of fun and good to eat, as well. Also, most people will not turn this down. Most people do like this food. Also, consider some pizzas. Most people also like this. One of the best ideas is a pig-picking. These are traditional in my area of South Carolina, and everyone loves them. Kill a pig or buy a pig, and get as much meat off it as you can. Cook all this, and let people eat whatever part they want. Hunting for wild pig is very popular where I am from, so we kill 200-300 pound hog and serve it for New Year’s Eve.
Throwing a New Year’s Eve party doesn’t have to be impossible. Most people not only have the location, they have the resources. Everyone has enough family or friends to make the party worthwhile, and it is a really fun thing to do.
